Monday, February 11, 2019

There's a bear on my chair by Ross Collins

Here is the some text of from this terrific book. You can see it rhymes, which is perfect for a young reader, but it is also very, very funny:

There's a bear on my chair.He is so big it's hard to share.There isn't any room to spare.We do not make a happy pair, a mouse and bear with just one chair.When I give him a nasty glare, he seems completely unaware.I don't know what's he's doing there, that bear who's sitting on my chair.I must admit he has some flair.He has fine taste in leisurewear.I'm fond of how he does his hair.But still I wish he was not there.

Take a look at the video of the whole book (noteit is read a little too quickly for use with young children) where you can see how Ross Collins incorporates colour to emphasize parts of the text.

This picture book is quite simply a delight. The illustrations compliment and extend the text in deceptively simple ways. For example the leisurewear page - our bear is sporting the iconic Elvis hair style. You can see this illustration on Ross Collins own web page. On another page bear receives a parcel and even though there is no mention in the text we can see he now has a mobile phone!

Bear seems deaf to all the protestations of mouse. Mouse becomes so frustrated we can hear him yelling as the text size grows bigger and bigger and nearly every line ends with a powerful exclamation mark! Adding to this the whole page is red.

How will all of this turmoil end? Mouse wants THAT chair. Eventually Bear grows tired and he decides to go home for a nap. Have you guessed just who HE finds lying on HIS bed.

There is an impressive set of awards on the front cover of this book. UKLA UK Literacy Association; Amnesty CLIP honour; and Kate Greenaway Medal (Shortlisted).

I did not know anything about this book but noticing it is published by Nosy Crow I should have realised I would be reading a wonderful book. Nosy Crow always publish terrific books. When you pick up this book make sure you compare the end papers. Also, on the final page, you will see the book mouse or is it bear has been reading - Good Chair Guide.

There are lots of funny books about chairs. And of course you would also include the classic 'chair' story Goldilocks and the Three Bears along with my favourite parody of this - Somebody and the Three Blairs.

About Me

I have worked as a Primary School Teacher-Librarian since 1985. I am passionate about matching young readers with books. I love to read and hope to use my blog to share some of my most favourite titles and new discoveries. Momo is the name of a book by Michael Ende. You may know him from The Neverending Story. Momo is a allegory about time. We all need to make time for reading.